Off campus housing costs vs dorm costs

suppasonic
Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:54:28 +0000

A lot of factors here.

The main (big) one is that you will very likely have to sign a year lease for off campus. If you are planning to stay over the summer, great, but it can be a PITA to find a subletter and if you dont (not uncommon), then you have to add that to the pricetag.

But yes, you can save (sometimes substantial) amounts of money by living off campus, especially if you are willing to share a room with someone. A single in 1835 Himan costs 8700 for the year, a double in bobb 7000. Sept-June is 10 months, giving you 870/mo and 700/mo respectively.

My 2.5 bedroom (2 beds, 1 “den” aka small bedroom) apt at Evanston Place, a pretty nice apt complex, was 2400/mo, and I paid 7500/mo (including utilities) to share a room with 4 total people in our apt. I know people who paid 450/mo off campus to live with someone else in a crappy house. I know people who paid in the 1500 range for nice singles at the nicest complexes in Evanston.

On the average, living off campus is absolutely cheaper. (Not to mention the huge savings from not having a meal plan).